A virtual environment is an interactive simulated environment accessed by multiple users through an online interface. Users inhabit and interact in the virtual environment via avatars, which are two or three-dimensional graphical representations of humanoids. There are many different types of virtual environments, however there are several features many virtual environments generally have in common:    A) Shared Space: the world allows many users to participate at once.    B) Graphical User Interface: the environment depicts space visually, ranging in style from 2D “cartoon” imagery to more immersive 3D environments.    C) Immediacy: interaction takes place in real time.    D) Interactivity: the environment allows users to alter, develop, build, or submit customized content.    E) Persistence: the environment's existence continues regardless of whether individual users are logged in.    F) Socialization/Community: the environment allows and encourages the formation of social groups such as teams, guilds, clubs, cliques, housemates, neighborhoods, etc.
An avatar can have a wide range of business and social experiences. Such business and social experiences are becoming more common and increasingly important in on-line virtual environments (e.g., universes, worlds, etc.), such as that provided in the on-line world Second Life (Second Life is a trademark of Linden Research in the United States, other countries, or both). The Second Life client program provides its users (referred to as residents) with tools to view, navigate, and modify the Second Life world and participate in its virtual economy.
Second Life and other on-line virtual environments present a tremendous new outlet for both structured and unstructured virtual collaboration, gaming, exploration, commerce, and travel, as well as real-life simulations in virtual spaces. As virtual worlds are providing a new and emerging marketplace for commerce, companies are struggling to determine how best to provide both cost effective and customer friendly methods of serving avatar patrons.
In the business arena, with the virtual world environment now competing with traditional web-based sales services, it is imperative that unique and enticing methods evolve to provide a premium customer service experience. Not only is it important that the initial virtual world-based customer purchase experience be positive, but that the customer has an ongoing, continual positive view of the experience, thereby making the avatar (and customer) more likely to return for repeat business. Certainly, ‘backing’ every virtual customer service representative (CSR) avatar with a real-time human CSR is very costly. Additionally, differing customer avatars concomitantly have differing requirements with respect to CSR assistance. Counterbalancing the varying needs of the customer avatars is that virtual business locations seek to be responsive, yet efficient.
Accordingly, there is an opportunity to improve upon the existing virtual universe experience.